You might think that birth of Prince Valiant's son Arn at the end of the previous volume would have slowed down Val's adventuring, but you would be wrong. After the baby has been christened, Valiant and Gawain are dispatched to investigate reports of black magic in Wales, ending up in pitched battle at the aptly-named Castle Illwynde. Then it's off to Scotland to battle the Picts, and then home yet again for Val to visit his growing boy.

Valiant now enters the 1950s: The Thule winter is hard and bleak, and a prince who has designs on Aleta must be dealt with. Then it's another epic-length story, "The Missionaries," in which Val and several of his fellow knights and crew travel to Rome on a quest for teachers who might bring Christianity to Thule. The story also features an escape through the Alps, far too many red-headed girls, and a tragic, life-changing event for the young squire Geoffrey (a.k.a. "Arf"). And Foster charmingly ends the book with "The Prince Arn Story," a three-week sequence narrated by the toddler.

Prince Valiant Volume 7, once again shot from stunningly crisp and colorful original printer's proofs from Foster's original collection, also features the usual wealth of supplements, including another brace of rarely-seen Foster art, and an introduction by the recently-anointed artist of the ongoing Prince Valiant strip, Thomas Yeates.

Read editor Kim Thompson's Afterword from Vol. 1, detailing the production and restoration of these new editions, right here on our website.

"Anyone with a love for fantasy art can only marvel at [Foster's] ability to capture both the gritty down-to-earth feeling of the times as well as those sweeping moments that kindle our sense of wonder.... These books are wonderful — rich and comprehensive..." – Charles de Lint, Fantasy & Science Fiction

“A witch named Horrit once prophesied that Val would never know contentment, but fans of the strip will find it here.” – Vanity Fair

“Prince Valiant opens up a world that I wanted to stay in — a wide-eyed early 20th century approach to fantasy with a now-vanished sincerity and wholesomeness. It’s an all too rare pleasure in comics.” – Dan Nadel, Comics Comics

“Medieval swordplay and adventure have never been as glorious as in Foster’s Sunday-only comic strip.... Prince Valiant is one of the best-drawn comics ever, and this new edition does ample justice to its achievement.” – Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)